Luogo - Archaeological Area
Complesso archeologico di Nuraghe Appiu
Where
Villanova Monteleone (Sassari)
The archaeological area is immersed in cork and
ilex woods, in a beautiful landscape between mountains and sea. The complex
consists of nuraghe Appiu (complex type nuraghe), a single tower nuraghe, a big
village with about two hundred huts, a giants%u2019 tomb and two small dolmen.
The trilobate nuraghe Appiu collapsed in the
external part, but inside it still preserves three big chambers, one over the
other. The second nuraghe, quite well- preserved, is much smaller. The huts in
the village, round or quadrangular in plan, are built of superimposed stone rows with mud mortar and face little
courtyards. Thanks to the discovery of millstones, mortars, pestles, jars,
sharpening stones, flint
and obsidian splinters, askoidi vases (with pitcher shape), pans,
spindles and loom weights, it is supposed that the huts were used not only for
human habitation, but also for foodstuffs and different activities as wool
weaving, cereals grinding and vases baking. This area was probably a cult
place.
The complex dates back to the Early/First Iron
Age, between 900 and 800 BC. On the contrary, the megalithic burials as giants%u2019
tomb Su Crabile (15th-10th century BC) and two small dolmen date from a
Prenuragic period: they were built during the Neolithic Age (4th %u2013 3rd
millennium BC) and are rare in the island but widely diffused in Europe.
Partially accessible to disabled people.